The Universe is Indifferent

MAY 7 ENTRY: Which form of writing are you most afraid to try? What about it scares you and do you think you will ever attempt it in the future?


The one genre I am afraid of is flash fiction.

Shakespeare once wrote "Brevity is the soul of wit."

Sorry sir, when it comes to writing, I disagree. I concede that I am an unexperienced wielder of the mighty pen, but one thing I believe in most certainly, the essence of writing is in the details. I wouldn't write "He was wearing a coat" just so that the story doesn't contain more words than stipulated. I would rather go with "He was wearing a motley coat." (A term popularised by the Bard himself)

Though there isn't an official word limit specified for flash fiction, I have come across various forums and contests where the usual number of words allowed are 55,100, 150 or 300. On occasion, 1000 words was set as the limit, though it was very seldom. Even WDC has many contests for such stories. I must admit, I have tried my hand at it. Was I successful? No. Did I enjoy writing such stuff? An even more emphatic NO. The word limit was constantly gnawing at me. I feel writers should be given the freedom to express themselves truly, even if they go a little over the set limit for words. Isn't true creativity what we really want to encourage? Sure, sometimes things should be left to the reader's imagination, but cutting corners, nahh.

Will I ever attempt to write flash fiction again? Probably not after my disastrous experience with 55 word stories. Not my cuppa for sure.

To whoever sent in this prompt, nice one . Like the way you're thinking.